I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[pinkxray]

I know buying gift cards to help with reaching the spend is a no go with Amex.
Is it the same with Chase? I’d really like to get myself a CIP and then refer Dh but we don’t spend $5000 in 3 months. If I could add a few hundred a month in gift cards we could do it.
(I know many people will say use Plastiq or Venmo but I’ve a stayed away from that so far.)
I’d probably want to order gift cards from BJs or maybe I could just throw $100 Disney gift card in my grocery order each week? I’m thinking it should work but want to make sure.

 

[Alexle2007]

I know buying gift cards to help with reaching the spend is a no go with Amex.
Is it the same with Chase? I’d really like to get myself a CIP and then refer Dh but we don’t spend $5000 in 3 months. If I could add a few hundred a month in gift cards we could do it.
(I know many people will say use Plastiq or Venmo but I’ve a stayed away from that so far.)
I’d probably want to order gift cards from BJs or maybe I could just throw $100 Disney gift card in my grocery order each week? I’m thinking it should work but want to make sure.

Yep, you will be fine with that approach.

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

I would go for one of the box ones on Amazon. Have seen great reviews on some of them.

So many choices on amazon! I'm sure I'll find something good for her

We've had good experiences with the Zinus brand on Amazon. 12-inch gel memory foam for spouse and I. Both of use think it's the best mattress we've ever owned (not that we're picky) and we have a 6-inch twin for one of the kids, it is also decent for what it is. Also use their frame/box spring/platform contraption with three beds in the house.

I had no idea Zinus was on amazon! Older dd bought a Zinus hybrid mattress and bed frame for herself last year. She watched Zinus until they had a great sale. Unfortunately I don't have that time

Thanks to both of you!

 

[speedyfishy]

I’d probably want to order gift cards from BJs or maybe I could just throw $100 Disney gift card in my grocery order each week? I’m thinking it should work but want to make sure.

This kind of giftcard spend should still be ok for Amex MSRs too. I’d stay away from places that give L3 data but your grocery store shouldn’t.

 

[magickingdomprincess]

When do Amex Hilton SUB’s normally hit? For some reason I thought I remembered that with Amex you don’t have to wait for a statement to close to see points, but maybe I made that up? The charges that put me over my MSR just posted overnight, so I’m wondering when I should be worried if I don’t see the points. I’m a little nervous because I received the pop-up several months ago, but didn’t when applying for this card (Surpass), however I cancelled my Hilton biz after being approved. TIA!

 

[speedyfishy]

I keep getting excited for these Citi Priority bank bonuses but they are really awful. My offer was 50,000 miles for spending $750 with the citi debit card and using bill pay. I go to sign up and I see I need to have $50,000 in the account, no thank you.

ETA I see that the bonus should post 90 days after the requirements have been met and they have a $30 annual fee for the 60,000 miles bonus offer. Im thinking about paying the monthly fee.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I know buying gift cards to help with reaching the spend is a no go with Amex.
Is it the same with Chase? I’d really like to get myself a CIP and then refer Dh but we don’t spend $5000 in 3 months. If I could add a few hundred a month in gift cards we could do it.
(I know many people will say use Plastiq or Venmo but I’ve a stayed away from that so far.)
I’d probably want to order gift cards from BJs or maybe I could just throw $100 Disney gift card in my grocery order each week? I’m thinking it should work but want to make sure.

You should be fine with Chase...I purchased Disney gift cards last year and they counted towards the MSR

 

[PolyRob]

I keep getting excited for these Citi Priority bank bonuses but they are really awful. My offer was 50,000 miles for spending $750 with the citi debit card and using bill pay. I go to sign up and I see I need to have $50,000 in the account, no thank you.

ETA I see that the bonus should post 90 days after the requirements have been met and they have a $30 annual fee for the 60,000 miles bonus offer. Im thinking about paying the monthly fee.

The Citi bonuses give me so much false hope. I get all these TY point offers which I would consider, but like you said it has an outrageously high deposit requirement!

 

[amalone1013]

Sooo my (new) boss was okay with me taking off Sat-Sun for the AP previews, but asking for Fri/Mon means we need to check with my coworkers first That is a running weekend so it's not like me being off Sat Sun doesn't effect them too...

 

[DisneyMandC]

I have 10% off Starbucks up to $5 on Bonbon biz this morning. Still don't have any of the other insurance, gas, or grocery offers.

We are only $56 from being done with Hilton Biz now! Just in time for whichever of those Hilton personal cards I got DH to show up.

 

[tink1970]

Congrats @mmmears on your CSP! It's a solid card and the extra referral URs plus the higher SUB just make it smart for you. I know you, like me, are more of your own travel agent and the need to convert URs through the portal isn't as important (plus, why trust expedia?) so I think it's a great choice, especially since you have an expensive Norway trip coming up and that will knock out the spend. Very savvy---you've come a long way in a year!

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

I'm down to 4 Amex credit cards, and today was day 91 to put me out of 2/90. I apparently have the Midas touch with Amex - referred from DW Biz Gold, applied for Cash Magnet, went pending with no pop-up, called Amex and approved.

I'm not complaining about the no pop-up thing, I'm just also kind of befuddled and wasn't entirely expecting to get the card without issues.

Do you put spend on all your cards?

Don’t we have a few Boston-area DISchurners? @schmass, @kidsfirsttrip, anyone else?

May be a good option to bank that $200/$40 Marriott Amex Offer and/or the Brilliant’s $300 credit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/clv5pb/_/evzgrfv

Aesone! Love the Seaport area - been thinking about a staycation sometime soon!

 

[1st*toright]

Don’t we have a few Boston-area DISchurners? @schmass, @kidsfirsttrip, anyone else?

May be a good option to bank that $200/$40 Marriott Amex Offer and/or the Brilliant’s $300 credit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/clv5pb/_/evzgrfv

Aesone! Love the Seaport area - been thinking about a staycation sometime soon!

The Residence Inn in the Seaport district is a great hotel - it is much more interesting than most Residence Inns - in an old brick building that they have retrofitted to be very cool and modern. I've spent way too many nights there - there was a time when I was traveling to Boston for a couple of days every other week and that was my go-to hotel. Lots of great restaurants around there (more now than there were back when I visited frequently, actually). I would have guessed it would be more points than that - definitely a great use of a 35k cert!

 

[GZanta77]

The Residence Inn in the Seaport district is a great hotel - it is much more interesting than most Residence Inns - in an old brick building that they have retrofitted to be very cool and modern. I've spent way too many nights there - there was a time when I was traveling to Boston for a couple of days every other week and that was my go-to hotel. Lots of great restaurants around there (more now than there were back when I visited frequently, actually). I would have guessed it would be more points than that - definitely a great use of a 35k cert!

I just spent the last week there on a staycation. Been living in Massachusetts for 11 years and figured it was time to do the tourist thing. Hotel was great and had a really enjoyable week. DW works in the Seaport area so she really enjoyed the 5 minute commute to the office.

I used my 7 night cert from the old flights and nights deal to stay here - room was going for over $400/night plus tax so a pretty solid value I think.

 

[WVMomof3]

Thanks! And congrats on the CIP bonus! I’ve been around for quite a while but mostly lurk. I’ve looked a little more into that ANA RTW ticket on reddit. A few have commented on how tiring it would be, which I could see. With 8 stops though it seems like a fun way to hit all the international Disney parks and see some sights at the same time. Better start earning those MRs

I feel like someone has mentioned those tickets on this thread before. @calypso726 @Andysol @Albort @gottalovepluto @CaliforniaGirl09 @Calfan @*WDW*Groupie* come to mind as those crazy enough to do it. lol

 

[smmco]

Thanks for sharing. Since my DH already has the CSR I decided it made more sense to just go for the CSP.

Makes sense I guess I didn't read carefully.

 

[GPC0321]

Looking for experiences using the $75 travel credit on the Southwest Priority card. I think I've read that it works for Early Bird Check-in. It is usually $90 for us to do EBCI. Will the $75 be automatically credited once that expense is put on the card?

Other than EBCI, is there another good use for the credit for those of us who fly on points?

Thanks!

 

[Lain]

Do you put spend on all your cards?

Aesone! Love the Seaport area - been thinking about a staycation sometime soon!

The Residence Inn in the Seaport district is a great hotel - it is much more interesting than most Residence Inns - in an old brick building that they have retrofitted to be very cool and modern. I've spent way too many nights there - there was a time when I was traveling to Boston for a couple of days every other week and that was my go-to hotel. Lots of great restaurants around there (more now than there were back when I visited frequently, actually). I would have guessed it would be more points than that - definitely a great use of a 35k cert!

Ha - I was thinking of you guys swinging by to buy some Marriott GCs with your Amex Offers or Brilliant credit. Finding hotels that sell the physical card at the front desk seems to be increasingly rare.

 

[amalone1013]

Well that's not fair. Got MILs FN cert back from the cruise trip, and they just loaded it in there so it is good until 8/6/20 lol.

I was almost very upset with Bonbon though. Remember my orphan points?

Also noticed I have a Bonbon email in there that says I have 2500 points. What the heck... I may have signed up for a rewards account many moons ago on this email... but all of my ones since starting churning have been with my newer email. But this one should definitely not have points in it, any trace I may have earned would have been long expired... I reset the password, logged in, and it's 2500 from Dolphin from last October. Our reservation last Sept reverted back to my maiden name with the program merge, so I think it has to do with skipping housekeeping. Maybe at check in they linked it to this old account since it would have come up as Malone. Guess I'll see if I can get those transferred over.

I had to update the name on my old account first, so did that. Then sent a new message to merge them... told them very clearly I want XXX number to remain the account number, and the duplicate account was XXX number (this was old account).

They wrote back that they did THE EXACT OPPOSITE.

Looks like they just wrote it incorrectly though, as I am logging in under the account number I wanted to keep and it's working, and I can see the 2500 points were added.

 

[WVMomof3]

Looking for experiences using the $75 travel credit on the Southwest Priority card. I think I've read that it works for Early Bird Check-in. It is usually $90 for us to do EBCI. Will the $75 be automatically credited once that expense is put on the card?

Other than EBCI, is there another good use for the credit for those of us who fly on points?

Thanks!

I have been using it to erase our $5.60 fee.